Mechanobiology Data Dashboard

Background & references

Research funded by the U.S. Public Health Service shows that bone formation increases with loading frequency and magnitude; higher frequencies and peak loads stimulate more periosteal bone formation【787350952497089†L305-L323】. There is a lower threshold around 1050 µϵ (~40 N in rat tibia) below which lamellar bone formation is not triggered【80783935968031†L300-L315】. As strain amplitude increases toward an optimal range (~1500 µϵ), the anabolic response peaks; very high strains can induce microdamage and modelling‑dependent bone loss【246402821972818†L107-L115】. Repeated high‑intensity vibrations deliver large accelerations and may produce fatigue damage in fragile bones and other tissues【988135435614641†L186-L261】. Continuous long loading sessions can desensitise the bone’s mechanosensors; breaking loading into multiple smaller bouts with recovery periods yields greater bone mass【766476793748597†L136-L145】. Consequently, the anabolic effect of loading duration reaches a plateau and further extending the duration provides diminishing returns【465350937148328†L260-L265】. The synthetic model in this dashboard therefore assumes an inverted‑U response to strain amplitude and a bell‑shaped response to frequency, with the strongest stimulation around 5 Hz【245124096181909†L1194-L1204】. NASA's open data set OSD‑310 reports that spaceflight causes cancellous bone loss accompanied by increased bone resorption but no change in bone formation【640128976070130†L90-L115】. Because the original data files are not directly consumable here, the synthetic dataset and prediction model were derived from these public findings.